Little Skylark's page

How do you choose which threads to read? And what to answer? I for one don't pick threads with lots of answers. Those people have lots of help already and I'll probably don't have much to contribute. (Except some fun threads.)
What do you do? How do you select?

I'm starting in a new party, after having build a cleric of a chaotic neutral god the DM told me that I'm also a member of the Zhentarim, because both my parents are. We've agreed that the character is not really sure what path to choose yet.
I'm really struggling with the Zhentarim part though, I've no idea what motivates more or less "normal" people to be in the Zhentarim and why it appeals to them.
Does any one have ideas about this?

Last time we played our group had a discussion about the damage black tentacles deal, to be precise, about the word additional in the text.
Some of us thought the black tentacles would deal 1d6+4 damage the first round and the second round they would deal an additional 1d6+4, bringing the total up to 2d6+8 damage in the second round.
Others thought it was 1d6+4 first round, and in the second round once again 1d6+4, 1d6+4 an additional time.

Since we where in a fight we just did what the DM thought, but can some of you shine a light on the matter?

Posted this before but I didn't get any answers :( maybe someone has something.
For my next dungeon I'm thinking about having a jungel setting, possibly mwangi expanse. Do any of you know any dungeons in that setting? I'd like to look at something for inspiration.
If there's any thing Maya or Aztec themed that would be perfect!
If you don't think there is anything like that could you let me know as well?

For my next dungeon I'm thinking about having a jungel setting, possibly mwangi expanse. Do any of you know any dungeons in that setting? I'd like to look at something for inspiration.
If there's any thing Maya or Aztec themed that would be perfect!

I have been Dming a group for two years now and most things are going quite well. There is one thing I'm really struggling with, that is describing stuff and giving background stories. As soon as I have to discribe I somehow start to get nervous, stumble on my words, forget which is the logical order of telling things and I feel like I want to stop speaking as soon as possible. It's often unclear to my players what I mean and they get confused by it. (Luckely as soon as they start asking question I 'm in my not nervous anymore and can set things straight). I have tried different things, one of them was writing down what I should say word to word but I'm extremly bad at reading out loud and I've found that doesn't work for me. Other things did not work either. I have no problem rollplaying NPC but I think describing stuff is somehow closer to public speaking and gets on my nerves.
Does anyone of you have a similar problem? Or even better has anyone an idea how to improve this?

My characters are about to enter a tomb. It's a highly secured tomb, especially against evil. It was built so evil can't get in and undead cant get out.

I do have some security and monsters, but I need more, I would like to give this tomb an old complex feel. Could you help me with different monsters, fluff and traps?

Some time ago the party I GM was falsely accused of a political murder. My idea of the dungeon was that they could prove their innocence after some adventuring. If they do this they find out that the people who framed them are planing a war, a war they can stop.
However, they don't feel like they have a chance and are thinking about fleeing the country.
First I was thinking of ways to keep them in the country, but now I'm in doubt. If they choose to flee I'll need to make a new plan (which is a lot of extra work). I do however like the idea of them having a choice that changes things. (If they don't stop the villains there will be war etc.)
Since I'm still in doubt, what would you do as GM, and what would you like as a player?

The party I GM has entered a forest guarded by a god. The moment they past her shrine one of them made a offensive remark about her, the rest laughed and made other jokes. Now is this forest inhabited by fey like creatures, intelligent animals and creatures like that.
The inhabitants are not too happy about the remarks against their goddess and I'd like them to pester/tease the characters. Nothing aweful, but enough to make them feel it.
All ideas are welkom!

Last sessions my players started questioning the things I did.
Two examples. 1. I had a undead (Wraith) take a five foot step so the other undead could flank. They first asked me why it took that step. So I told them. They opposed, saying that an undead would never do that because they're not intelligent. So I told them it had a higher int then most of them. (They went along with that.)
The other example, a human enemy walked 40 foot. He was a monk, but they didn't know. They said i did it wrong and recounted the squares for me, afther they counted I just said "yes" and went on to attack them. That player didn't want to take the damage and explained again. In the end I angrily told them to take the damage and move on. They all presumed that I didn't want to admit my "mistake". But I didn't want to tell me it was a monk they were fighting.

I dislike that they question me, I hardly ever make mistakes and know the rules better than any of them. I'm not sure if I want to confront them directly because the tend to take it very personaly. Should I confront them anyway or should I just put up with they're questions?

Ps. Just to be clear, apart from this they are a lot of fun to play with.

I was wondering, are there any rules for the circumstances for sleeping?
What hapens if you don't have any sleeping gear and you're sleeping on a rocky surface? Or you don't have gear and it's freezing?
Basicly, under what circumstances do characters sleep soundly?

Last session we entered a mine, because we think our bad guy is there. It's a mine bild to find a specific stone sort that is ligthly magical. As a cover-up we decided to mine.
I am playing the cleric, and I can't mine. But I can summon a Earth elemental, but none of us had a clear idea of what a earth elemental can see underground, do they notice different types of stone? To me it seems al logical way to navigate for them. What do you think?

The oracle in the party i play with has the haunted curse, but she doesn't play it and forgets it if it would have had any effect. She says she wants to play her curse but doesn't know how/forgets it.
I'd like to help her play it but i'm not sure how, I know it is a vague question but do you have any idea's to help her play her curse?

Last session the party I'm Dm of met a underwater monster, they needed something that was in her nest. So they looked up the swim and drowning rules and the cleric mentioned she could learn waterbreathing the next day. Knowing this four of them (not the cleric) decided to swim 40ft of shore, dive 40ft down and attack the monster.
One of them almost drowend getting there, but was rescued by a summoned dolphin.
The creature had improved grapple and grappled the fighter. The fighter came loose, but decided to grapple the creature. It grapple her back, she drowned. (She spent no hero points at this moment.)
After she got dragged back on shore she asked if she could spent two hero points to cheat death. I thought long and hard about this, but i'm still not sure what i should have done.
Looking at the rules, she would have spent the heron points the moment of dieing, bringing her back alive but still underwater, so she would have died. On the other hand, people are known to live after being unconscious in the water much longer than she was.
And on one hand, she was truly extremly stupid, on the other, we just had a new player and it migth have ruined the mood.

What would you have done?

Btw. It's not that i migth change my decision. It's just that i'm still pondering if i did the right thing.

Today I am planning to arrest the party i'm the Gm of. (For killing the king btw.) The party consist of a cleric, a melee fighter, a sorcerer, a rogue and a monk. They are in a big city when this happens and its a city well prepared for adventurers. So there is a task force to arrest adventurers when needed.
For this task they'd definitely need silence spells for the casters, maybe some sort of mind affecting spell for the fighter, a net for the monk? Was thinking of see invisibility to be sure..
What would you use to arrest adventurers?

The cleric in my party still uses the 3.5 version of turning. (She asked if she could keep it.) One of the undead they'll be fighting can use teleportation (as a special ability).
I'd would not find it logical if he just runs away when she turns him.
But using an action to teleport doesn't feel good either, and if he does, where does he teleport to?

For the next part of my storyline the Bad Guys need to kill a really high level character (the king). This character is old, but still powerful, and he some trusts the people who are going to kill him. It will happen in or near a small town.
I am stuck on how to do this. The BG's can't be so strong that they could easely overwhelm the party. I've been thinking about poison, but i'm looking for something more creative, and there is always that save..
How would you kill the king?

Last session my cleric did a speak with plants on a wall flower to ask if, and when, some one climed that wall.
Afther I casting the spell my DM decided that a plant didn't have a concept off time, i reasoned that a plant would know the difference between day and night, because off photosynthesis and stuff. Then my Dm decided that plants don't have a memory and it could not answere my question (or any other that had nothing to the direct suroundings at that moment). Knowing my Dm I didn't keap on pressing the matter, at the time.
I didn't agree with his ruling, (mostly because it would make the spell completly useless) but I'm not sure what they sould be capable off. What do you think?